Group VIA calcium-independent phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) has been shown to play a major role in regulating basal phospholipid deacylation reactions in certain cell types. More recently, roles for this enzyme have also been suggested in the destruction of membrane phospholipid during apoptosis and after oxidant injury. Proposed iPLA2 roles have rested heavily on the use of bromoenol lactone as an iPLA2-specific inhibitor, but this compound actually inhibits other enzymes and lipid pathways unrelated to PLA2, which makes it difficult to define the contribution of iPLA2 to specific functions. In previous work, we pioneered the use of antisense technology to decrease cellular iPLA2 activity as an alternative approach to study iPLA2 functions. In the present study, we followed the opposite strategy and prepared U937 cells that exhibited enhanced iPLA activity by stably expressing a plasmid containing iPLA2 cDNA. Compared with control cells, the iPLA2 -overexpressing U937 cells showed elevated responses to hydrogen peroxide with regard to both arachidonic acid mobilization and incorporation of the fatty acid into phospholipids, thus providing additional evidence for the key role that iPLA2 plays in these events. Long-term exposure of the cells to hydrogen peroxide resulted in cell death by apoptosis, and this process was accelerated in the iPLA2-overexpressing cells. Increased phospholipid hydrolysis and fatty acid release also occurred in these cells. Unexpectedly, however, abrogation of U937 cell iPLA2 activity by either methyl arachidonyl fluorophosphonate or an antisense oligonucleotide did not delay or decrease the extent of apoptosis induced by hydrogen peroxide. These results indicate that, although iPLA2-mediated phospholipid hydrolysis occurs during apoptosis, iPLA2 may actually be dispensable for the apoptotic process to occur. Thus, beyond a mere destructive role, iPLA2 may play other roles during apoptosis.
Copyright 2004 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.